So what is alt-metal? Originally growing out of the alt-rock boom of the late 80s, the definition of the genre has evolved a hell of a late over the past 30 years, perhaps now best summed up as "metal that draws heavy influence from outside rock/blues", meaning it can cover anything from the reggae-metal of Skindred to Primus's funk metal and pretty much all of nu metal.
While that makes it something of a nebulous realm to define, it does mean it basically covers some of the most boundary pushing bands in the heavy world in 2025. That in mind, we've cast a gaze at some of the most exciting and brilliant albums to emerge under the alt-metal banner in the past 12 months, which you can read about below. Enjoy!
Bleed – Bleed (20 Buck Spin)
At first glance, Texan debutantes Bleed may seem like just another band riding the coattails of Deftones. But, their self-titled album had an identity all its own, taking the most melodic elements of the California masters and extending them into a 36-minute dreamride. The band also pulled influence from other ends of the nu metal world, including the scratching turntables of Slipknot and slick surfer vibes of Incubus. It was nostalgic, yet it felt fresh at the same time, and the band went far off the back of it, even getting their own Audiotree session. With any luck, they’ll fly even higher in the future. Matt Mills
Bloodywood – Nu Delhi (Fearless)
Bloodywood might just be the most important nu metal band on the planet right now. While the renaissance is as popular as ever, it feels like there are far too few bands pushing the boundaries of metal's sound like the OG nu metallers did in the 90s. Enter Bloodywood and the spectacularly colourful Nu Delhi. Yes, it's more of what we got with their brilliant debut Rakshak, but as an album which folds in hip hop, Bhangra, electro, metal and so much more, it feels like a serious step up for the Indian band and one of metal's most gleefully original releases in 2025. Rich Hobson
Calva Louise – Edge Of The Abyss (Mascot)
Four albums in, Calva Louise found their sound. Edge Of The Abyss saw the band incorporate decidedly Latin-influenced rhythms alongside spiky blasts of metalcore and alternative metal to create something vibrant and kinetic. It's a long way from the bouncy indie/alt-rock of their 2019 debut, but also feels like the best expression of their unique musical geneology as they deployed everything from flamenco to electronica in a spectacular, hyperactive package. Rich Hobson
Deftones – Private Music (Reprise)
It had to be here, didn’t it? After the pandemic, social media anointed Deftones as the forefathers of ‘baddiecore’, and the California band blew up in a way that surprised even them. Private Music was the ideal album for this renaissance, taking everything that’s ever made them special and condensing it into one album. Where My Mind Is A Mountain was driving and heavy, CXZ was sensual, ambient and catchy. One of the nu metal era’s best bands returned to their finest form, at a time when they had more eyes on them than they’d had in the previous 25 years. Perfect. Matt Mills
Love Is Noise – To Live In A Different Way (Century Media)
The debut album from the UK’s Love Is Noise, To Live In A Different Way pushes Deftones-core to its logical extremes. The band are named after a track by The Verve, and you can hear that indie sentimentality in songs like Devotion, crammed between brutal doom riffs and waves of shoegazey noise. Jawbreaker lived up to its name with its white-knuckle hardcore and It Hurts When You Were There was a dour slow-burner, but the constant gloom and angst tethered all the frills together. The album dropped in February, and by December it was still being remembered as one of the most promising opening statements of the year. Matt Mills
Nova Twins – Parasites & Butterflies (Marshall)
Blurring the boundaries between pop, alternative and metal, Nova Twins third outing was no major departure from what they'd done before. But that's by no means a bad thing; their fusion of styles and subgenres remains distinct and powerful, the girls growing ever-more confident in dropping everything from radio-baiting choruses (Monsters) to drum'n'bass beats (Drip). It might piss off some purists, but Nova Twins continued success shows their nu metal style grab-bag approach to influence is paying off in some of the finest alternative music you're likely to find in 2025. Rich Hobson
Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia (RCA)
With Even In Arcadia, Sleep Token may have just officially claimed the crown of metal's biggest contemporary band. Put aside that they're the only metal band to get a number one both sides of the Atlantic this year, the continued "sold out" signs that follow every (massive) show and even a headline appearance at Download Festival, ST just don't care what detractors have to say. Opener Look To Windward set the tone with a mixture of pop melody and crushing, clanging tech metal riffs, but from there Arcadia sets off for the horizon, straying ever further from familiar shores. It won't please everyone, but with their influence felt across the metal world in emergent bands like Gore., The Pretty Wild and President, they've created a whole new lexicon for the next generation of alt metal groups. More power to em. Rich Hobson
Slung – In Ways (Fat Dracula)
"Gotta start at the end to find you." There's a prevailing doominess to Slung's In Ways that could so easily have seen them drop into that subgenre, but the Brighton band's sense of pop catchiness and all-round grungey tone means they sit closer to the alt rock sphere. However you'd tag them, their debut is a revelation, a gorgeously indulgent selection of earworms that are nigh on impossible to dislodge once they've passed your lugs. If you wondered what Chelsea Wolfe would sound like if she loved Hole and Smashing Pumpkins more, we reckon it'd be this. Rich Hobson
Vukovi – My God Has Got A Gun (Sharptone)
Just from the title of opening track This Is My Life And My Trauma, you know Vukovi's My God Has Got A Gun isn't going to be a sunny stroll in the park. Yet somehow the Scottish alt. metallers find ways to liberate themselves from even the darkest subject matter with an irrepresible energy that clatters and clangs like the very best metalcore without falling into that genre's many formulaic pitfalls, Janine Shilstone delivering some of the sleekest vocal hooks of the year. Rich Hobson
The Yagas – Midnight Minuet (self-released)
Making the leap from horror to metal, The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga unveiled her debut with gothy alt. metallers The Yagas in 2025. Midnight Minuet is a sleek, moody record with echoes of Ghost, Chelsea Wolfe and The Cure, alluring with velvety vocals and stomping riffs that evoke metal's glory years where the music would simply grab you by the ears and force you into submission. Farmiga proves a formidable vocalist, but it certainly doesn't hurt that the songs have an effortlessly catchy quality that makes this one stick in the brain for ages even after a first listen. Here's hoping we get more. Rich Hobson
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